30 April 2009

[…] ”In the case of the relationship between America and Israel, he noted, malicious intelligence is being used to turn over the U.S. to a more anti-Israel policy and forge ahead with a more pro-PA or pro-Islamist one.” full interview.

Report:

Intelligence Warns

Israel is now an ‘Obstacle to Obama'

(IsraelNN.com) According to a classified intelligence assessment handed to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, U.S. President Barack Obama and his senior advisors wish to “incrementally diminish U.S. strategic cooperation with Israel.”

A report in World Tribune quoted an Israeli source familiar with the intelligence assessment who said that "Obama wants to make friends with our worst enemies and [those who were] until now the worst enemies of the United States. Under this policy,” the source added, “we are more than irrelevant. We have become an obstacle.”

[...]

At the same time, the intelligence officials estimated that Obama would restrict U.S. arms exports to Israel in an effort to deny it systems that it could use in a raid on Iran or Syria. The intelligence sources said this policy was begun during the last year of the Bush administration and predicted that it would intensify under Obama.

[...]

However, by appeasing Iran and Syria the U.S. is risking alienating Egypt. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak warned Egypt's rivals in the Middle East Wednesday that he would not tolerate what he called their "tampering with security and stability" in his country, a reference to Iran and the Hizbullah terror militia that it supports.

29 April 2009

A BOLD, NEW MUSICAL PROJECT THAT MERGES INNOVATION WITH THE FIGHT AGAINST CANCER

"The Postcard Project: The Songs that Built Israel"

Early pre-state Israel was a melting pot of cultures. New songs were commissioned to help create a common culture and were published on postcards and sent around the world, creating a national folk music in the process. Artists in the 30's were sent postcards and created art from the folksongs. We in turn have sent postcards of these songs to our favorite artists, asking them to create new versions to raise funds for the Cancer Charity of their choice.

Introducing Pioneers for a Cure, an artist-driven philanthropy with the immediate goal of raising $100,000 for cancer research and treatment within the next few months. Pioneers for a Cure believes that it is time to make cancer a thing of the past.

Today’s leading musicians and singer-songwriters are reinterpreting and recording pioneer songs, some classic and some nearly forgotten, for the Pioneers for a Cure recording project.

Now you can be a pioneer and help find a cure for cancer ..... for a song.

"...as the low-flying Boeing 747 speeded in the shadows of skyscrapers, trailed by two fighter jets, the sight instead awakened barely dormant fears of a terrorist attack, causing a momentary panic that sent workers pouring out of buildings on both sides of the Hudson River.

“I thought there was some kind of an attack,” said Paul Nadler, who sprinted down more than 20 flights of stairs after watching the plane from his office in Jersey City shortly after 10 a.m. “We ran like hell.” In fact, the blue and white plane with “The United States of America” emblazoned on its side was one of two regularly used by the president. It was soaring above Lower Manhattan, Staten Island and Jersey City so government photographers could take pictures near the Statue of Liberty for publicity purposes.

[...]

As the fright wore off, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and other local leaders questioned why the Federal Aviation Administration had ordered local officials, including the New York Police Department, not to alert the public in advance. An F.A.A. memo last week said information about the exercise “should only be shared with persons with a need to know” and “shall not be released to the public or the media.”

An FAA spokesman, Jim Peters, defended the event, calling it “a planned, pre-approved military flight over New York to take photos.” He said it was “pre-coordinated with everyone involved, including the city.”

Except that an FAA memo specifically warned officials that if they released information about the flights to the public or the press, they’d be violating the law.IT EVEN CITED A SPECIFIC STATUE.

As the fright wore off, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and other local leaders questioned why the Federal Aviation Administration had ordered local officials, including the New York Police Department, not to alert the public in advance.

An F.A.A. memo last week said information about the exercise “should only be shared with persons with a need to know” and “shall not be released to the public or the media.”

[...]

Later, aides told reporters that President Obama was furious about the flyover when it was brought to his attention. The White House Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, conveyed the president’s anger in a meeting with the director of the White House Military Office, Louis Caldera, who issued the apology.

"Last week, I approved a mission over New York. I take responsibility for that decision,” Mr. Caldera said. “While federal authorities took the proper steps to notify state and local authorities in New York and New Jersey, it’s clear that the mission created confusion and disruption. I apologize and take responsibility for any distress that flight caused.”

An F-16 fighter jet trails a larger military aircraft over Lower Manhattan Monday, April 27, 2009, conducting a photo shoot that panicked thousands of New Yorkers who believed the city was in jeopardy for another terrorist attack.Christopher Talbot, WCBS-AM Listener

An airliner and supersonic fighter jet zoomed past the lower Manhattan skyline in a flash just as the work day was beginning Monday. Within minutes, startled financial workers streamed out of their offices, fearing a nightmarish replay of Sept. 11.NYPost

Dozens of people evacuated outside 17 State Street after military jets were seen escorting a 747 in Manhattan on April 27, 2009.CBS

DO YOU THINK FORMER PRESIDENT BUSH WOULD SCHEDULE THIS TYPE OF MILITARY MISSION???

NYPost: "Air Heads in DC Terrorize City"

NYDailyNews: "Pretty damn dumb: Feds' downtown poto-op flyby was the work of morons."

Here you can click on a video called "Flyover Triggers Panic" (left side of page) to see some great views of the 747 and an F16 circling downtown NYC, with people panick-ing, emptying buildings, on a Monday morning, causing immense havoc, and imagine the sound of those planes flying so low, reverberating inside their memories of 911?!

And if you like this, go to Hooray For The Red, White and Zooom! for a slideshow of (as they say) "the fastest, coolest and costliest military jets, past and present, on the planet." You will then understand all the UFO sighting scares. (Must say, they are awesome)

28 April 2009

NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg says another two people are hospitalized with suspected swine flu and NYC Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden said that “many hundreds” of schoolchildren are sick with suspected cases of swine flu. Bloomberg says the hospitalizations are separate from the outbreak at a private school in Queens.

The mayor says the hospitalized are a child in the Bronx and an adult in Brooklyn.

“Many hundreds of students were ill with [?] that were most likely swine flu,” said Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden. “We are not trying to test all students.” New cases are being probed at PS 177, a school for autistic children in Queens, and at Ascension, a parochial school in Manhattan, Freiden said. PS 177 has been closed and authorities are deciding whether to close the Manhattan school.

The U.S. has more than 60 reported cases of swine flu, mostly in New York City. The sickness has killed dozens in Mexico.

Federal health officials reported Tuesday that the number of confirmed U.S. swine flu cases had jumped to 64, while state officials reported at least four more. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported “a number of hospitalizations” among the confirmed cases, which include 17 new cases in New York City, four more in Texas and three more in California.

That brings the CDC count to 45 in New York City, 10 in California, six in Texas, two in Kansas and one in Ohio.

However, state health officials in California have confirmed three other cases, and Indiana authorities have confirmed one. There could also be another case in Orlando, Florida.

When the rest of the world is taking strong measures, THE GOVERNMENT STILL DOES NOT WANT TO CLOSE THE BORDER FOR AT LEAST THE TIME OF INCUBATION IN ORDER TO CONTAIN CASES IN THE U.S. It would seem as if they want people to get sick (?).

Addressing a memorial ceremony at the Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem, Rabbi Shimon Rosenberg, father of slain Mumbai Shlucha Rivka Holtzberg, spoke of "a pain and longing that does not heal" but also of his pride for the Holtzberg couple.

The Official State of Israel ceremony to Remember those who have fallen in defense of the Jewish State was held Monday night at the Kotel in Yerushalayim.

“Each year that we mark the rebirth of the Jewish state after long centuries of exile is a great cause for celebration. After centuries of powerlessness, the Jewish people returned to the stage of history and to their rightful place among the nations.

“The past 61 years show just what a free and independent Jewish nation can achieve. With scarce resources, we brought a barren land back to life and absorbed millions of immigrants….

All this has been achieved even though Israel has lived under constant threat for 61 years. Unfortunately, Israel remains under threat…. It is vital that we continue to strengthen the bonds between Israel and the Diaspora. These bonds are a source of mutual strength and a powerful reminder of the unique role that Israel plays in the world and in the history of our people.

And in another country:

Freedom Of Speech Summit:

I wish I had come to a place they call they call The Sunshine State with better news, but it would be very unwise to deny that the situation indeed is very gloomy, and it might take a while for you to understand the situation that we are in now. Maybe you as Americans still think that Europe is a place with a great culture and a profound way of looking at things. Maybe you see immigration as something that is inherently good for our country as it contributed so much for the United States, and I understand that. But Ladies and Gentleman the Europe as you know it from visiting Europe or from stories from your parents or friends or whoever, is on the verge of collapsing.

We are now witnessing profound changes that will forever alter Europe's destiny and might send the Continent in what Ronald Reagan once called:"A thousand years of darkness".

[....]

The third President and his spiritual father of this great Nation, once said and I quote: "The price of Freedom is eternal vigilance" as so often Thomas Jefferson was right.

Our freedom must be safeguarded, and it is, we, ourselves, as we are sitting here, that must do so, that must act. A period of inattention of dropping our guard, for even a short while, might cost us our freedom, just like that. It has happened before in history, please let us not allow it to happen again. Everything we stand for has to be defended, everything we are, everything we have, with all our might, our identity, our culture, our democracy, our freedom and our civilization is at stake.

We owe it, Ladies and Gentlemen, to our children. So Ladies and Gentlemen, I leave you with the expression of our determination.We will never give up, we will never give in, we will never never, ever, surrender.

Why is healing with light particularly relevant to the situation in Israel today? To appreciate this, let us examine the unique place the month of Iyar occupies in the Torah’s scheme of time.

In the Torah, there is only one holiday in the month of Iyar. It is known as the Second Passover (פֶסַח שֵׁנִי ), on the 14th day of the month. Normally, we are commanded to celebrate Passover on the 14th day of Nisan, a month earlier. But, in cases when a person was ritually impure or too far away from the Temple on the 14th of Nisan and therefore unable to celebrate Passover by bringing a sacrifice to the Temple on that day, the Torah provides a second chance, the Second Passover.

Although the Jewish year begins in the month of Tishrei, the months are counted from Nisan. Iyar is thus the second month of the year both in the ordinal sense and inasmuch as it is the month in which one is given a second chance.

Every holiday in the Jewish calendar teaches us a basic lesson in how to fulfill our purpose in life, how to serve God maximally year round. The message of the Second Passover, and the general message of the month of Iyar, is that it is never too late. No matter what situation we find ourselves in, no matter how low we have fallen, no matter how impure we may feel or how far away from our life's goal we are, we can always, with God’s help, rectify our situation.

And so it is with regard to the State of Israel. The fact that it was founded and its wars were fought and won in the month of Iyar teaches us that we must not despair. The power of light can overcome the darkness; it is never too late to rectify the situation. Our generation has been given the unique opportunity of joining the mind and heart of our people and the entire world together. By spreading Torah, the light of God, everywhere, we will eventually succeed in restoring it as the ultimate message of God’s greatest gift and blessing: peace and life. As Maimonides ends his discussion of the laws of Chanukah, a holiday commemorating an earlier attempt to establish Jewish sovereignty in the Land of Israel, “The sole purpose for the giving of the Torah was to make peace in the world.”

From "Second Passover and the State of Israel," by HaRav Yitzchak Ginsburgh

There's no need to be worried at this stage as no case of swine flu has yet been confirmed in Europe. But the World Health Organisation says this outbreak has "pandemic potential" and countries have been advised to step up surveillance and preparation in case the infection spreads rapidly.

More than 80 people are reported to have died and thousands made ill in Mexico, with further cases reported in the US and New Zealand. Flu viruses have the ability to change and mutate, making it difficult for drugs manufacturers to ensure effective vaccines are available.

However, testing has shown that the antiviral drugs oseltamavir (Tamiflu) and zanamivir (Relenza) appear to be effective against the human swine influenza H1N1 strain.

What is swine flu, and how do humans catch it?

Swine flu is a respiratory disease of pigs caused by type A influenza viruses. Outbreaks of swine flu happen regularly in pigs. There are many different types of swine flu and the current cases involve the H1N1 strain of type A influenza virus. While people are not normally affected, those who have close contact with pigs can contract the virus.

It is also possible for the constantly changing infection to spread from person to person, which has happened in the latest outbreak. Experts believe it spreads in the same way as seasonal flu — through touching infected individuals or surfaces, coughing and sneezing. This is why the Mexican government has ordered many bars and restaurants to close, and banned handshaking.

What are the symptoms?

The symptoms of swine influenza in people are similar to the symptoms of regular human seasonal influenza infection and include fever, fatigue, lack of appetite, coughing and sore throat. Some people with swine flu have also reported vomiting and diarrhoea.

What is the difference between swine flu,

avian flu and the flu commonly seen

during the winter?

Seasonal influenza is caused by viruses that are adapted to spread in humans. Humans have some natural immunity to the strains that are in common circulation, and this immunity can be boosted by immunisation with a vaccine.

Avian influenza is caused by influenza viruses adapted for infection in birds. Similarly, swine influenza is caused by influenza viruses adapted for infection in pigs. Big problems can arise when human and animal flu viruses mix and mutate into new organisms that can spread through a human population which has no immunity to it.

The fact that most of the Mexican dead were aged between 25 and 45 rather than being elderly or very young is seen as a worrying sign. The first victims of the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918 were also healthy young adults.

When does an outbreak become a pandemic?

In contrast to the typical seasonal flu outbreaks which we see every winter in the UK, pandemics are global events and occur infrequently - usually every few decades. There were three last century. The most serious was the so-called "Spanish flu" of 1918, which caused up to 40 million deaths worldwide.

Smaller pandemics happened in 1957 and 1968, known as "Asian" and "Hong Kong" flu respectively, claiming up to 4 million lives between them. Intervals between previous pandemics have varied with no recognisable pattern, but due to the regular emergence of new flu strains in birds, humans and now pigs, some experts suggest that another one is "due". The Director-General of the World Health Organization is the decision-maker in terms of declaring an influenza pandemic and elevating the global stages of pandemic alert.

[NOTE: If I were you, please monitor your family members closely, avoid mixed crowds, don't eat out, fortify your body by taking large doses of ascorbic acid (powdered form), avoid doorknobs, and all outside surfaces as is reasonable, definitely avoid someone who is ill, contact your doctor should you develop any similar symptoms, and of course, say Tehillim, speak to Hashem, and eat wisely, and drink plenty of fluids (preferably water).]

26 April 2009

It is surely Divine Providence that the two most outstanding events in the relatively short history of modern Israel both occurred in the month of Iyar. To fully appreciate the significance of this, we must turn to the Torah, G-d’s plan of creation.

We must first consider the name of the month, for G-d creates everything, whether tangible entities and temporal or spiritual phenomena, through the spiritual energy contained in its Hebrew name. The month’s colloquial name, Iyar (אִיָיר ) is cognate to the word “light” (אוֹר ). But, this is its Aramaic name. In the Bible, there is one explicit reference to this month and there it is called Ziv (זִו ), meaning “brilliance” or “radiance.”

In Kabbalah, the word Iyar is explained as an acronym for the Biblical words, “I am G-d, your healer” (אֲנִי י־הוה רֹפְאֶךָ ). Thus, the month of Iyar is the month of Divine healing power, healing with light. The Ba’al Shem Tov applied the principle of healing with light in all situations. His advice: Do not attack darkness directly, head on, but rather disarm it with light because a little light dispels a great deal of darkness.

Part II soonFrom "Second Passover and the State of Israel," by HaRav Yitzchak Ginsburgh

24 April 2009

Parshas Tazri'a-Metzora

Whose Deeds Are Preferable?(Based on the Medrash)

Rabeinu Bachye, citing a Medrash, cites a dialogue between the Roman General Turnusrufus and R. Akiva. When the former asked the latter whose deeds are 'nicer', those of G-d or those of man, he replied without hesitation that man's deeds are 'nicer' than those of G-d.

'But surely', Turnusrufus persisted, 'G-d created the Heaven and the earth? Are you trying to tell me that man can do better?'

'Don't mix in what concerns areas to which man has no access', retorted R. Akiva! 'Let's' stick to those things that lie within his capability'.

'Tell me then', the Roman finally came to the point, 'Why do you perform B'ris Milah? (i.e. if G-d created man uncircumcised, why do you circumcise him?)'

'I knew exactly that that is what you were driving at,' R. Akiva replied, 'and that is what I had in mind when I answered that the deeds of man are 'nicer', R. Akiva replied! And he promptly brought him stalks of wheat and loaves of bread.

'Here', he said, pointing first to the one, then to the other; 'These are made by G-d, and these, by man. Which do you think are 'nicer'!

Ignoring the implication, Turnusrufus came out with what was disturbing him - 'If G-d wants you to be circumcised, then why doesn't He create you already circumcised?'

'First tell me', R. Akiva countered, 'why a baby is born with its umbilical cord still attached to its mother's stomach, necessitating the mother to cut it?' And as for your question as to why man is not born circumcised, the answer is that G-d gave us the Mitzvos, to enable us to perfect ourselves, as the Pasuk writes in Mishlei (30:5) "All the Words (i.e. commands) of G-d purify!"

*

It is fair to assume that Turnusrufus himself did not believe in any of the thirteen principles of the Rambam - not in the concept of prophecy and not in Torah min ha'Shamayim; not in the oneness of G-d, and probably not even in the fact that He even exists. Consequently, his question was meant to challenge R. Akiva according to the latter's beliefs, but not according to his own. He was challenging R. Akiva to explain why, if there really was a G-d and that He created man uncircumcised, what right did he and his coreligionists have to initiate changes to G-d's creations.

It is not at first clear what Turnusrufus made of R. Akiva's counter-proofs from wheat and loaves of bread, and from the umbilical cord of a baby. The Or ha'Chayim suggests that he might have countered the former, by pointing out that G-d created wheat kernels, to give man a variety of food from which to choose from, seeing as from wheat kernels one can prepare bread, cake and an endless number of wheat dishes.

Be that as it may, R. Akiva's final answer must surely have been an eye-opener to him, if that is, he was able to grasp the meaning of his words at all. He could probably have related to the concept of a living G-d and the Rambam's first basic principles of faith (the existence of G-d, prophesy [communication] and Torah, even if he did not subscribe to them (as we explained earlier). Perhaps he could even have come to terms with the idea of reward and punishment - regarding someone who steals, rapes or murders (something which human logic dictates one ought not to do). But that man should have been created deliberately imperfect and then strive towards perfecting himself? That was surely beyond the scope of his comprehension. That would have meant giving credence, not only to the concept of spirituality per se (with which says the Or ha'Chayim, he presumably did not agree), but of actually turning it into the purpose of man's creation, something that he would never have envisaged.

No wonder then that R. Akiva's answer had not entered his mind, when he posed the question!

* * * * *

The Or HaChayim

In one of his explanations, the Or ha'Chayim, who also cites the above Medrash, but who omits R. Akiva's proof from the baby's birth, connects the Mashal of the grains of wheat with the Mitzvah of Milah in the following way. He defines the orlah as the epitome of evil (indeed, the Pasuk in Devarim [10:16] speaks about cutting away 'orlas levavchem' the Orlah [the bad part] of your hearts).

He describes how the body is like the sheath that contains the soul, and that the Orlah is therefore symbolical of the evil (the Yeitzer-ha'Ra) that dwells inherently within man. G-d therefore ordered K'lal Yisrael to remove the Orlah, removing the physical evil, that will enable him to grapple with the Yeitzer-ha'Ra and remove the internal evil from within himself. He did not command the gentiles to do so, he explains, because their souls are based on the aspect of evil, whose physical counterpart is the Orlah.

* * * * *

Adam ha'Rishon, the Or ha'Chayim points out, who was created perfect, was created circumcised. And it was only after he had sinned (inculcating the Yeitzer ha'Ra into his system) that he covered his Milah with the Orlah.

Likewise, Chazal inform us, loaves of bread initially grew on trees in Gan Eden, and it was only after Adam sinned that wheat had to be transformed into bread by means of ten preparatory acts (as described in Shabbos 73b), corresponding to the ten curses that G-d issued to Adam on account of the sin.

In this way, R. Akiva's parable of the grains of wheat was remarkably apt and to the point - even though we can be quite certain that Turnusrufus did not understand it.

is the nucleus of a metropolis that extends from Rehovot in the south to Herzliya in the north. Today's Tel Aviv, with its skyscrapers, urban sprawl and gentrified neighborhoods, was intended to be a garden suburb of the port city of Jaffa, itself first settled in 1820 by a Jewish traveler from Constantinople.

Over the years,

Jaffa became home first to Sephardi, and then Ashkenazi Jews. With monies raised by the Jewish National Fund and despite the obstacles placed in their way by Ottoman authorities, Jews began buying land beyond Jaffa's city walls.

At independence,

Tel Aviv had 210,000 residents. In 1949 it and Jaffa were amalgamated, along with nearby abandoned Arab villages. Today, Tel Aviv-Jaffa boasts a population of 400,000 residents.

Hundreds of worshippers who entered Joseph’s Tombon Wednesday night were shocked to see the holy site desecrated, apparently by Arab residents of Shechem. More than 500 Jewish worshippers who had coordinated with the IDF for entry were granted special permission to visit the tomb of the Biblical Joseph in Shechem, in honor of the new month of Iyar and Independence Day.

In a WND exclusive interview, Tariq Tarawi, a Fatah lawmaker who in 2000 served as chief of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terror group in the vicinity of the tomb, said the Palestinians would "never" allow Israel to rebuild a yeshiva or synagogue at Joseph's Tomb. The Brigades carried out most of the attacks against the tomb site.

"A yeshiva is an institution," said Tarawi. "An institution can be the beginning of claiming rights and these claims can bring once again the Israeli army to establish a base in the place, and we cannot accept this. If the Jews try to build a yeshiva, we will shoot at them."

The world's Muslims should go on pilgrimage to Jerusalem to demonstrate that it is a Muslim city and the future capital of a Palestinian state, an Egyptian parliamentarian was quoted as saying Thursday.

[the picture is of worshippers at mecca! just what we need in Yerushalayim!]

"Just as Muslims go on pilgrimage... to Mecca, they should also go to Jerusalem and to the Al-Aksa Mosque by the hundreds of thousands [?] every year," Minister of Religious Endowments Mohammed Hamdi Zaqzuq was quoted by the Al-Masri Al-Youm newspaper as saying.

"We can show the whole world that Jerusalem is something that concerns all Muslims," Zaqzuq said. "I invite all Muslims... to go to Jerusalem, even with Israeli visas, and I know full well that I'm exposing myself to virulent attacks," by saying this, Zaqzuq told a conference entitled "Jerusalem from an Islamic point of view."

WORLD MUSTN'T PERMIT ANOTHER HOLOCAUST

Obama talks with Elie Wiesel, founding chairman of the US Holocaust Memorial, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, during the National Commemoration of the Days of Remembrance in the Capitol Rotunda.Photo: APHe also said: "We've seen it, in this century, in the mass graves and the ashes of villages burned to the ground and children used as soldiers and rape used as a weapon of war," . . . Obama said part of the responsibility for the Holocaust rests with people who "accepted the assignedrole[?] of bystander . . . and called it a grim irony [?] that modern tools were used by the Nazis for barbaric savagery: "Science that can heal, used to kill. Education that can enlighten, used to rationalize away basic moral impulses."

JERUSALEM -- The new Israeli government will not move ahead on the core issues of peace talks with the Palestinians until it sees progress in U.S. efforts to stop Iran's suspected pursuit of a nuclear weapon and limit Tehran's rising influence in the region, according to top government officials familiar with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's developing policy on the issue. "It's a crucial condition if we want to move forward," said Deputy Foreign Minister Daniel Ayalon, a member of the Israeli parliament and former ambassador to the United States. "If we want to have a real political process with the Palestinians, then you can't have the Iranians undermining and sabotaging."

"We have to be pretty careful how you approach that kind of connection," said a senior U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly. "We are dealing with Iran because there are behaviors out there that are deeply troubling."

"The Secret Holocaust Diaries is a haunting eyewitness account of Nonna Lisowskaja Bannister, a remarkable Russian girl who saw and survived the unspeakable evils of World War II. For half a century, she kept her story secret while living a normal American life. She locked all of her photos, documents, diaries, and dark memories in a trunk. Late in life, she unlocked the trunk first for her husband, and now for the rest of the world.

Nonna’s is a story of suffering, torture, and death, but also a story of incredible acts of kindness that show the ultimate triumph of faith and love over despair and evil. The Secret Holocaust Diaries is in part a tragedy, yet an unforgettable true story about forgiveness, courage, and hope."

This young girl and her diary is how she experienced the Nazi atrocities. When you visit the above, you can read about her book, and view online some photos & documents, and a historical timeline.

Promotion for the book took place in Alabama, Tennessee and Georgia. I imagine her son was speaking at these different places. Here is a short piece in Memoriam for his mother.

My precious mother, through your amazing love you showed me that in life all things are possible if only you believe. You touched all who were blessed enough to know you with your grace and your strength. That grace will prevail over evil always. The lessons you taught me growing up were the kind that only one who knows such truth could teach, and the gift of your love lives within my heart even still. William Henry Bannister Jr

I hope everyone reads this and pays attention to what is actually going on. There is a manipulation of "who said what" and "when" and "to whom" that is part of a psychological and diabolical plot to bring Israel down.

This is 'information warfare' so have this in mind whenever you read anything on the status and security of Eretz HaKodesh. Hashem will bring Gog to the Land only to be brought down.

"Beware … Malicious Intelligence. An unnamed former highly-placed U.S.intelligence official has broken silence and says that America may soon be abandoning Israel in favor of the Arabs..."

“This is just the beginning”....The source made these remarks in an exclusive interview: […] “based on an interview with a former, highly-placed U.S. intelligence official who breaks his silence ...

"Israel will soon be completely on their own… or worse.” […]

“The game is riggedAt the highest levels of power in the U.S. and even by some in power in Israel, the game is rigged,” he emphasized.

Please listen here or here or read here These interviews were on Israel National Radio’s Weekend Edition with Tamar Yonah.

Mom in Israel brings some excellent 'water-saving tips' from Paamonim.

Paamonimhelps Israeli families in debt avoid poverty, and its website contains many money-saving tips. Saving water and energy is not only a personal financial consideration - the natural resources belong to all Israelis.

You will find a discussion on techniques for better washing, types of machines, money-saving tips, all of which are valuable to all 'home-makers'.

Bloggers I Follow

Ein Od Milvado

LIVING in Eretz Israel is the equivalent of all the Mitzvot of the Torah (Sifri, Parashat Re'eh, TOSEFTA, AVODA ZARA 5:2)

Fortunate is he who merits in his life to FIX HIS RESIDENCE in Eretz HaKodesh (Zohar Hakadosh Iii 72b) and remove from your heart this false belief that a man has more blessings outside the land (Alshich Hakadosh, Ki Tavo 28:6)